Alec Butler

This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 25 September 2024.

Alec Butler (born Audrey Butler; 1959) is a Canadian playwright and filmmaker.[1]

Alec Butler
Born
Audrey Butler

1959 (age 64–65)
NationalityCanadian
Occupations
  • Playwright
  • filmmaker
Notable workBlack Friday (play)

Life and career

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Butler was born in 1959, and is non-binary and intersex.[2] Butler uses they/them and he/him pronouns.[3] Assigned female at birth, he initially presented as a butch lesbian before coming out as transgender the late 1990s.[2] Before he came out, his work was published under his birth name.[4]

He was a nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama in 1990 for his play Black Friday. He has also worked on artistic projects with The 519 Church St. Community Centre as their first artist-in-residence. He was named one of Toronto's Vital People by the Toronto Community Foundation in 2006.[5]

He self-identifies as having Miꞌkmaq heritage, and as two-spirit.[2][4]

Plays

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  • Shakedown
  • Cradle Pin
  • Radical Perversions: 2 Dyke Plays (1990)
  • Black Friday (1990)
  • Claposis (1990)
  • Hardcore Memories (1993)
  • Medusa Rising (1996)
  • Trans Cab (2005)

Books:

  • Radical Perversions: two Dyke Plays by Audrey Butler published by Women's Press, 1991
  • Novella called Rough Paradise published May 31, 2014 by Quattro Books

Films

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  • Trans Mission: Get Yer Motor Runnin' – One-man show at A-Space, Toronto, 2003.
  • Misadventures of PussyBoy: First Love / Sick / First Period – Screened at many queer film and video festivals, First Love won the Charles Street Award for emerging video and film makers in 2002 at the InsideOut Festival.
  • Audrey's Beard – Named one of the top ten films about transitioning by Curve magazine.
  • 5 Seconds of Fame – Commissioned by Toronto's Pride Committee for Pride Toronto, 2007.
  • My Friend, Brindley – Works in progress; experimental doc about human rights activist and painter, Kathleen Brindley.
  • Darla's Goodbye – Short film based on a short story of the same name published in Red Light: Superheroes, Saints and Sluts.
  • Trans Cabaret: The Video

References

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  1. ^ Helkio, Raymond (January 18, 2017). "Alec Butler's "Rough Paradise" – Living Life Shamelessly". The Buzz. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Butler, Alec (April 22, 2016). "At 12 I grew a beard and had a period". BBC News. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
  3. ^ Noyes, Jenny (April 25, 2016). "Playwright on growing up intersex: 'At 12 I started growing a beard and had a period'". Daily Life. Archived from the original on July 13, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Why be just one sex?". Maclean's. September 8, 2005. Archived from the original on June 13, 2010.
  5. ^ "Announcements « The Centre for Women and Trans People @ University of Toronto". Archived from the original on April 2, 2021. Retrieved April 2, 2021.